Muslim-American terrorism claims zero lives in 2012, 2011

The number of Muslim-Americans indicted on terrorism charges fell for the third year in a row in 2012 down to 14, and for the second year in a row, no fatalities or injuries resulted from Muslim-American terrorism, finds a study printed by the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security.

Data from the study (.pdf), authored by Charles Kurzman, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina, shows that 2012 indictments of Muslim-Americans on terrorism charges were nearly the post-2000 median value of 15 annually. The average is about 19 indictments annually--a number made larger by the outlier year of 2009, during which 50 Muslim-Americans came under indictment for terrorism-related charges.

Kurzman also notes that Muslim-American terrorism has claimed in the United States the lives of 33 since Sept. 11, 2011--while political violence by white supremacists and other far-right groups has claimed the lives of more than 200 Americans during that same period.

In addition, mass shootings by non-Muslims in the United States caused in 2012 alone twice as many fatalities as terrorism perpetuated by Muslim-Americans since 9/11.

None of the 2012 suspects had been to training camps overseas. Overall, the number of terrorist-indicted Muslim-Americans traveling abroad for terrorist training has decreased since 9/11. From 2001-2005, 37 percent of cases involved individuals with camp training, while since then, that figure has declined to 8 percent of cases.

Of the 164 Muslim-Americans involved in a disrupted plot since 9/11, Kurzman could identify the initial tip that led authorities to them in 126 of the cases. Of those, 34 percent were discovered by government investigators, and 27 percent were turned in by other Muslim-Americans.

Indicted Muslim-Americans hewed to no particular age or ethnic demographic characteristic; about a quarter were Arab, and about 17 percent were white, Kurzman's data shows. About a third were aged 20-24, while about another quarter each were aged 25-29 or 30-39.